Pharmacy security system

ABSTRACT

An automated tracking system for a pharmacy that maintains each medication&#39;s Unique Drug Identifier (“UDI”) from the stock supply container to individual prescription orders filled therefrom and provides a security system for determining a discrepancy associated with filling a prescription order. The UDI information automatically travels with each individual prescription until it is dispensed to a customer or patient, thereby allowing the system to monitor and track supply containers and individual prescription orders for improper or potentially fraudulent transactions. If desired, the improved security allows both supply containers and individual prescription orders to be stored in the same storage area thereby maximizing available storage space while still improving dispensing and filling accuracy and minimizing loss.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/885,960 filed on Oct. 16, 2015, which claims priority toU.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/064,911 filed on Oct.16, 2014, both of the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND

Automated systems and methods for monitoring and tracking prescriptionorders, pharmacy supply containers, filled prescriptions and the likeare known. Examples of these systems can be found in U.S. Pat. No.8,479,988 to Louie, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,477 to Louie et al.,the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Also, local retail pharmacies, healthcare facilities and the like areincreasingly relying on remote, “central fill” pharmacies to fillprescription orders of customers and patients and ship the filledprescriptions to the local retail pharmacy or healthcare facility fordispensing to the customer or patient. An exemplar, remote “centralfill” pharmacy system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,544 to Louie etal., the disclosure of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

In addition, automated prescription filling machines are known and incommon use. These machines automatically count and dispense a desiredmedication into a container and apply a label containing customeridentifying information. Some of these machines include automatedverification systems, such as measuring the weight of the filledprescription and comparing it to a predetermined weight and flagging anerror if the detected weight differs from the predetermined weight.These systems can also include automated visual detection systems suchas cameras or the like that can physically count the number of pillsdispensed and the appearance of the pills and compare those detectedvalues with predetermined criteria and flag any discrepancies detected.Exemplar automated filling system are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,275,481to Rice et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/473,267 to Luciano,et al., and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/325,782 to Rhoads, thedisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Theseautomated verification systems have proven themselves to be accurate andreliable.

In general, a licensed pharmacy technician or pharmacist is required toverify that a prescription for a customer has been property filled. Thisverification usually includes verifying that the proper medication hasbeen loaded into the correct locations within an automated fillingmachine, and that the proper amount of that medication has been placedin the container earmarked for the customer/patient, and that thecustomer's/patient's container is properly labeled. Labeling includesidentifying information about the medication, quantity, how to take themedication contained therein and the customer/patient it is intendedfor.

In cases where a prescription order is filled at a remote facility,there may be several licensed pharmacy technicians and/or pharmacistsalong the filling flow process that perform the same verification stepsfor the same prescription and supply container orders. While suchredundant verification is certainly beneficial in the rare case whereverification along the flow process is erroneous, it needlesslyincreases the workload of the pharmacy technicians/pharmacists.Moreover, it requires more licensed pharmacy technicians & pharmaciststo be involved in the filling and dispensing process than needed toaccurately and consistently dispense the correct medications to patientsand customers. Since the demand on licensed pharmacy technicians andpharmacists is continuing to increase, these redundant verificationsystems can compromise a pharmacy's ability to timely dispensemedications to patients and customers.

Moreover, most medication has Unique Drug Identity (“UDI”) informationassociated with it including its lot number, expiration date, pedigreecode, National Drug Code (“NDC”), Drug Identification Number (“DIN”),cost and pricing information, and the like. This information is providedby the manufacturer of the medication with the supply container.However, much of this information is lost for medication withdrawn fromthe supply containers.

Also, many medications have become increasingly expensive withindividual doses of certain medications costing as much as severalthousand dollars per dose. The costs to stock such medications havebecome increasingly burdensome to some pharmacies, and they risk losingtheir investment in cases where the stocked medication expires before itcan be dispensed. As a result, many pharmacies will not stock certainmedications, and instead order such medication from the manufacturer asit receives an order for it by customers. This ordering process can takeseveral days before the medication is available to be dispensed to acustomer, thereby delaying when a customer can start treatment.

Similarly, given the large number of workers involved in filling anddispensing a prescription order, there is little tracking oraccountability of workers who have access to medications contained insupply containers and/or individual filled prescriptions. This lack ofaccountability can contribute to loss and theft of medications byworkers.

Also, should a particular medication be recalled by its manufacturer orfor another reason, the process of manually locating unused supplies ofthe medication within a pharmacy or awaiting customer pickup in a willcall area is time consuming, and this process can miss some medicationsfrom being timely recalled.

Moreover, known pharmacy storage systems often require that supplycontainers and individual filled prescriptions awaiting pickup be storedin separate storage areas within a pharmacy, which often already havelimited space to accommodate two separate storage areas.

SUMMARY

Thus, despite the known systems for filling prescription orders ofcustomers and patients and filling and loading supply containerscontaining medications into automated filling machines, there remains aneed for a cost effective system that consistently and accuratelyverifies prescription orders and the contents of supply containerswithout needlessly requiring multiple verifications from differentlicensed pharmacy technicians or pharmacists.

Moreover, there remains a need for medication UDI information of asupply of medication to follow the filling flow through a system to eachindividual filled prescription order of a customer or patient.

In addition, there remains a need for the financial information of asupply of medication to follow the filling flow through a system to eachindividual filled prescription order of a customer such that financialownership of a particular customer's supply of medication and thatcustomer's payment for it can pass directly between the manufacturer ora third party owner of the medication and the customer without adispensing pharmacy being held financially responsible as an “owner” ofthe supply of medication while under its control.

Also, there remains a need for an automatic fraud detection system thatmonitors dispensing of medications by each worker compared to apredetermined criteria and alerts management should a discrepancy bedetected.

In addition, there remains a need for a reliable and secure storagedevice that allows supply containers and individual filled prescriptionorders to both be stored therein while still allowing controlled accessand detailed tracking of these items.

The advantages and features of novelty characterizing aspects of theinvention are pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. Togain an improved understanding of the advantages and features ofnovelty, however, reference may be made to the following descriptivematter and accompanying figures that describe and illustrate variousconfigurations and concepts related to the invention.

FIGURE DESCRIPTIONS

The foregoing Summary and the following Detailed Description will bebetter understood when read in conjunction with the accompanyingfigures,

FIG. 1 is flow chart of an exemplar pharmacy filling system that uses acentral fill pharmacy to fill the prescription order and a localpharmacy to dispense the prescription order to a customer or patient inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The automatedfilling machine is filled with medications contained in bins that havebeen filled and verified by a pharmacist or licensed pharmacy technicianat a third party location, such as a wholesaler, a pharmaceuticalmanufacturer, or a central fill location.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplar pharmacy filling system that usesa local pharmacy or healthcare facility to fill the prescription ordersby relying on a third party, such as a wholesaler or pharmaceuticalmanufacturer, to provide bins filled with supply medications that havebeen filed and verified by a pharmacist or licensed pharmacy technicianat the third party location.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an exemplar filling of an individualprescription order of a customer from a stock supply of the prescribedmedication showing the transfer from Unique Drug Identifier (“UDI”)information about the medication in the stock supply container to acomputer readable tag that travels with the individual prescriptionorder in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In adisclosed embodiment, a computer system uses the tag to track, monitorand locate the individual prescription, correlate it with a customer,and maintain UDI information of the medication contained with theindividual prescription.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an exemplar “Return to Stock”comparison whereby the computer system compares the UDI of an individualprescription order that was not timely dispensed to a customer orpatient to the UDI of a supply container and authorizes the return ofthe medication to the stock supply container only if the UDI's betweenthem are identical.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplar prescription order filling systemwith a computer system monitored and verified “return to stock” featurethat minimizes medication loss while preserving UDI integrity of thereturned to stock medications.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an exemplar flow path from amanufacturer or third party owner of a medication to a customer/patentthat is dispensed to the customer/patient by a pharmacy that maintains asupply of the medication to dispense to the customer/patient, butbecause of the tracking of UDI, ownership, and pricing tracking by thetracking system, the pharmacy does not purchase or otherwise obtainownership of the medication from the pharmacy. Ownership passes directlyfrom the manufacturer or third party owner of the medication to thecustomer/patient.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an exemplar pharmacy system having adual use storage compartment for securely storing both supply containersand filled prescription orders with security features to monitor andtrack access to items stored therein and monitor fraudulent dispensing.It also includes security systems such as a system for globallyidentifying all medications within the pharmacy subject to a statuschange such as a recall or the like, a real-time inventory module, afraud module, and a receiver module.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A pharmacy filling system is shown in FIGS. 1-7. A local pharmacy 10 orhealthcare facility may use a central fill pharmacy 12 to assist withfilling an individual prescription order 14 as shown in FIG. 1, or itmay fill the prescription order 14 within the local or retail pharmacy10 itself as shown in FIG. 2. A prescription order 14 is usually alawful written order prescribed to a patient by a practitioner for thequantity, strength, and dosage instructions of a given medication ordevice for the treatment of a condition of that patient. A prescriptionorder may also be more broadly defined by a national or local governingauthority, and that definition is also hereby included herein.

FIGS. 3-5 show an exemplar prescription medication dispensing system 20to a customer or patent with a computer system 22 monitored and verified“return to stock” feature that minimizes medication loss whilepreserving the Unique Drug Identifier (“UDI”) of medication that isreturned to stock. FIG. 6 shows an exemplar use of the dispensingsystem's UDI, ownership, and pricing tracking to track the passing ofownership of the dispensed medication directly from the manufacturer toa customer/patient without a dispensing pharmacy being financiallyresponsible for the medication while under its control. Each of thesefeatures is discussed in greater detail below. FIG. 7 shows possiblesecurity features that may be included with the system for ensuringactuate filling and dispensing of prescription orders, minimizing fraudand other losses, and maximizing available storage space.

Automated Prescription Filling with System Tracking and Verification

Regarding FIGS. 1 & 2, in both embodiments, an automated filling machineor system 30 is used to fill the prescription orders 14. The automatedfilling system 30 is located at the central fill facility 12 in theembodiment of FIG. 1, and at the local pharmacy 10 or healthcarefacility in the embodiment in FIG. 2. At either location, the automatedfilling system 30 is stocked with medication supply bins 32 that havebeen filled and verified by a pharmacist and/or licensed pharmacy worker49 at a remote location 34 such as a wholesaler or the medicationmanufacturer. The local pharmacy 10 or healthcare facility is preferablyin electronic or computer communication 40 with the remote location 34and central fill facility 12, if applicable.

The supply bins 32 are sealed and tagged at the remote location 34,preferably with an electronic tag 50 such as a barcode, RF tag, RFIDtag, GPS tag, or the like, that travels with each supply bin 32. The tag50 includes identifying information about the medication containedwithin the supply bin 32 to which it is attached. Preferably, the tag 50is in communication with a computer system 22 that includes one or moretag readers 52 that detect the presence of the tag to determine itslocation. The computer system 22 includes a database that may includedetailed information about the medication contained within the supplybin 32 including its location as well as UDI information about themedication.

More preferably, the tag 50 is a radio-frequency identification tag(“RFID”), and includes Unique Drug Identity (“UDI”) informationregarding the medication contained within the bin 32. Such informationcan include the lot number, expiration date, drug name, drug strength,pedigree number, fill date, pharmacist/licensed pharmacy workerverification and identification, current owner, pricing, unit cost, andthe like for the medication contained in the bin.

The sealed bins 32 are transported to their respective automated fillingsystem 30, which is either the central fill pharmacy 12 in theembodiment of FIG. 1, or the local pharmacy/health care facility 10 inthe embodiment of FIG. 2. A local worker (51, FIG. 7), who may also betagged with a unique identifier tag 50 so his or her actions within thepharmacy can also be monitored, tracked and recorded by the computersystem 22, installs the bins 32 into the automated filling system 30 bybreaking the seal. A local tracking system in communication with thecomputer system 22, such as a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.8,479,988 to Louie, et al. or the like, uses a tag reader 52 or the liketo automatically read the information contained on the tag 50 that isoperably secured to the bin 32. The computer system 22 automaticallyverifies that the correct bin 32 has been placed in the correct locationwithin the automated filling system 30 without requiring a locallicensed pharmacy worker or pharmacists to verify the contents of thebin 32 or its proper location within the automated filling machine 30.

Should the computer system 22 detect a discrepancy, such as the wrongsupply bin 32 being installed in the wrong location, the system 22 canalert a worker to correct the discrepancy or call of a licensed pharmacyworker or pharmacist to intervene to correct the situation.

During filling of the prescription order 14, either at the central fillpharmacy 12 in FIG. 1 or at the local pharmacy 10 or healthcare facilityof FIG. 2, the supply bins 32 and the prescription orders 14 are taggedwith electronic machine readable tags 50 that monitor and track theirlocation within the pharmacy and include information about theprescription orders and/or supply bin contents (e.g. UDI's) as needed.

The automated filling machine 30 may include standard automated fillingverification systems 60 such as weight verification, label verification,pill count verification, video comparison of the pills to an image ofthe pill in a standard catalog of pills, and the like. Theseverification systems 60 verify that the automated filling machine 30properly placed the correct medication and the correct amount of thatmedication into a container that has been properly labeled for aparticular customer or patient. Should these systems detect adiscrepancy, the system alerts a pharmacy worker of any discrepancieswhere that particular prescription order 14 is pulled from the systemand manually inspected and corrected by a pharmacy worker before it isreleased to a customer or patient.

It can be appreciated, that with the foregoing systems, individualelectronic tagging 50, tracking and monitoring of the supply bins 32 andthe prescription orders 14, and automated verifications systems 60downstream of the filling machines 30, a filled prescription order 14for a refilled prescription may be dispensed to a customer with only onemanual verification of the supply bins 32, by a healthcare worker, wellupstream of the individual filling of the prescription 14. Thedownstream automated monitoring, testing, tracking and verificationperformed by the computer system 22 maintains the integrity of thesupply bins 32 and the resulting filled prescription orders 14.

Of course, the filling system can include additional inspection stationsalong the filling path as needed to comply with local pharmacydispensing regulations. For example, if a prescription order 14 is new,and calls for new prescription handling or patient counseling, aregistered pharmacy worker and/or pharmacist 51 can be called in toverify that particular order and counsel the customer or patient.Refilled orders can pass this step saving licensed pharmacy worker's andpharmacist's time.

If desired, the pharmacist or licensed pharmacy worker 49 at a remotelocation 34 and/or the pharmacists or licensed pharmacy worker 51 at thelocal pharmacy 10 can each wear a tag 50 that is in communication withthe computer system 22. This allows for the computer system 22 tomonitor, track and document which workers performed which tasks relatedto both the supply bins 32 and individual prescription orders 14

System Tracking and Verification of Unique Drug Identifier

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, the computer system 22 can monitor and track theUnique Drug Identifier (“UDI”) information about the medication in eachsupply container 33 within the system, such as lot number, manufacturerdate, expiration date, drug name, drug strength, pedigree number,National Drug Code (“NDC”), Drug Identification Number (“DIN”), cost andpricing information, and the like. The supply container 33 may be from apreviously packaged bin 32 or a separate container that arrived at thepharmacy by other methods. As shown in FIG. 3, this UDI information canbe transferred to each individual prescription order 14 when medicationfrom that supply container 33 is transferred to an individualprescription order 14.

For example, the supply container can include a first machine readabletag 50 a that is readable by a tag reader 52 in communication with acomputer system 22. A second machine readable tag 50 b can be operablysecured to the individual prescription order 14. The first tag 50 a caninclude UDI information about the medication contained in the supplycontainer 33 including the remaining volume or number of pills containedtherein. When the individual prescription order 14 is filled and aportion of the contents of the supply container 33 are transferred tothe container containing the individual prescription order 14, thecomputer system 22 can detect this activity and associate the individualprescription order 14 of that tagged individual prescription containerto a customer or patent's prescription order. The computer system cantransfer the resulting UDI information of the supply container 33 to thetag 50 b associated with the individual prescription order 14. This UDIinformation from the supply container 33 travels with the individualprescription order 14 to a storage area 55 until that order is dispensedto a customer or patient. Preferably, the storage area 55 includes oneor more tag readers 52 and transducers 250 in communication with thecomputer system 22 that operate as further described herein.

UDI Information Preserved when Medication is Returned to Stock

Referring to FIG. 4, should an individual prescription order 14 bereturned to stock or the like, the system can track and store the UDIinformation about the returned medication, thereby allowing it to bere-dispensed without risk of it becoming expired or without knowing itsexact pedigree. The computer system 22 can read the tag 50 b associatedwith the returned prescription order 14 and the tag 50 a associated withthe supply container 33 and compare the UDI's of each. If key items ofUDI's are identical, such as lot number, expiration date, NDC andpedigree number, the returned medication can be placed back into thesupply container 33 without compromising the integrity of the supplycontainer 33 as shown by arrow 72 in FIG. 4. The system can activate oneor more transducers if the transfer of the returned medication is notauthorized and alert a pharmacy worker if the UDI of the supplycontainer 33 has been compromised.

Alternatively, if the UDI's between the returned medication and thesupply container 33 do not match, the returned medication can remainwithin the storage area for use to fill a new prescription order asshown by arrow 74 in FIG. 4. The computer system 22 can alert a pharmacyworker whether to use medication from the returned prescription order orfrom the supply container.

Having described how the computer system 22 maintains and tracks UDIinformation from the supply containers 33 to the individual filledprescription orders 14. It can be appreciated that medication loss canbe minimized by preserving UDI integrity of the returned to stockmedications, and inadvertent dispensing of expired medications tocustomers and patents can be eliminated.

An exemplar individual prescription filling system 80 taking fulladvantage of maintaining medication UDI information integrity throughoutthe filling process is shown in FIG. 5. In step 90, a new individualprescription order is provided to the pharmacy. The pharmacy firstdetermines if there are qualifying returned to stock medicationsavailable to fill the new prescription order (Step 92). If there is, thesystem next determines if there is enough of the returned to stockmedication to fill the new prescription order (Step 94) and if there isthe new prescription order is filled with from the returned to stocksupply (Step 96). In cases where the supply of returned medication isgreater than the amount dispensed to the new individual prescriptionorder the computer system may update the volume or quantity ofmedication in the returned to stock supply as medication is dispensed tofill the new prescription order.

Alternatively, if there is none or not a sufficient amount of returnedto stock medication to fill the new prescription order, the systemdirects a pharmacy worker or an automated fill system to fill the newprescription order from the main stock supply container of theprescribed medication (Step 98).

After the individual filled prescription order is filled either from anexisting returned to stock supply or from the main stock supply, thecomputer system transfers the UDI information of the source supply tothe computer readable tag associated with the individual prescriptionorder (Step 100). More preferably, the computer system also monitors andtracks the volume or pill count in both the supply container and thevolume or number of pills placed in the container of the individualprescription. For example, it consults the database associated with thatcustomer/patient and determines the number of pills prescribed anddeducts that amount from the selected supply container and adds them tothe filled individual prescription order.

The filled individual prescription order is then stored for dispensingto a customer or patient (Step 102), and a clock is initiated to trackhow long the individual prescription order remains in the storage area.Preferably, the individual prescription is stored in an area that is incommunication with the computer system 22 to automatically monitor,detect, and log user access.

As shown in Step 104, if the individual prescription order is dispensedto a patient or customer within a predetermined time, further trackingof the UDI information and location tracking of the customer's order canstop (step 106). The UDI and other information can be stored in adatabase for further reference or documentation as needed.

Alternatively, if the individual medication is not dispensed to apatient or customer OR within a predetermined time, the medicationwithin the individual prescription can be returned to stock (step 112).However, because the UDI information of the supply container ispreserved and transferred to each individual prescription filled, shoulda medication contained within a filled prescription order waiting forpick-up expire before it is picked-up by a customer or dispensed to apatient (step 110), the system can flag the discrepancy to a pharmacyworker, such as by activating a transducer on the tag associated withthat prescription order, who can correct the situation before thecustomer seeks to pick up the medication or before it is dispensed to apatient (step 111). The computer system 22 can further preventdispensing of an expired medication to a patient or customer by takingadditional security steps such as calling for a pharmacist overridebefore it will unlock or locate the prescription order for the pharmacyworker, or by activating an audible warning alarm or the like.

If desired, the computer system can also update the UDI information ofthe individual prescription order 14 and the supply container 33 with auser entered or pharmacy pre-selected configurable date. Preferably,this configurable date is earlier than the expiration date of themedication contained in the respective individual prescription order 14and supply container 33, and it is selected to give a patient orcustomer a reasonable time to use the medication before it will expire.The previously described flagging and warning system for expiredmedications could also be activated upon reaching this configurabledate, thereby preventing the dispensing of medications that do not havea reasonable time to be used before they expire.

Also, the electronic tracking of pedigree information of medications inthe supply container also allows the pharmacy to dispense medicationsthat are closer to their expiration dates first, and avoid dispensingmedications that are too close to their expiration dates to bemeaningfully used by a customer or patient before they expire. Using theoldest inventory first and avoiding disposing of expired or nearlyexpired medications with this system also saves money for the pharmacy.

The computer system first compares the UDI information of eachindividual prescription order with the UDI information of the supplycontainer for that particular medication (step 114). If the UDIinformation is the same, the medication contained within the individualsupply container can be returned to the supply container (step 116). Thepill count or volume of medication in the individual prescription orderreturned to the supply container can be automatically added by thecomputer system to the UDI information of the supply container.Alternatively, if the UDI information between the individualprescription order differs from the UDI information of the supplycontainer, the returned to stock medication can be stored and trackedfor further use (step 118) as previously described. Of course, theworker may choose to store separately even if the UDI's match to savetime.

One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that numerous variationsand modifications may be made to the configurations described above. Forexample, if desired in step 94, if there is not a sufficient amount ofmedication in a returned to stock supply of medication, a pharmacy mayfill only a partial amount of an individual prescription order from thereturned to stock supply. If it does this, it can pull the remainingsupply from the main stock of the medication supply. If it combinesmedication from these two sources of supply medication into oneindividual container, the UDI information of that container iscompromised. Accordingly, the computer system will track this individualprescription order to ensure that it is not returned to stock for reuse.Alternatively, the pharmacy may provide two individual containers, eachwith an individual machine readable tag and each containing the UDIinformation of the supply source from which it was filled. In such case,the medication contained within each individual container may bereturned to stock as previously described while maintaining UDIintegrity of all the medications.

Also, the storage area 55 (FIG. 3) for filled prescription orders 14needs to be spaced apart from the storage area of the supply containers.In such case, should a filled individual prescription order be flaggedfor being returned to stock and stored in the same area where the supplyof that medication is also stored, the “return to stock” function can bepurely electronic, whereby the computer system simply reclassifies thatthat individual prescription order as being returned to stock medicationwithout that item actually being moved. Of course, any customeridentifying labeling information would still need to be removed beforethe returned item could be dispensed to a new customer.

Ownership of a Customer/Patient's Medication May Transfer from theManufacturer or Third Party Owner Directly to the Customer/Patient.

Referring to FIG. 6, the previously described individual tracking ofUDI, ownership and pricing information a particular customer's 204prescription order 14 allows ownership of a particular prescriptionorder 14 to pass directly from the manufacturer or third party owner 200of the medication to the customer/patient 204 upon the dispensing of themedication from a pharmacy 202 to the patent.

The previously discussed “return to stock” feature of the system allowsownership and pricing information of a particular prescription order tobe preserved when a prescription order has not been timely picked up bya customer/patient, thereby maintaining ownership integrity of theprescription order.

Accordingly, it can be appreciated that the pharmacy may maintain asupply 33 of a medication while the manufacturer or third party owner200 of that medication maintains ownership of it until it is dispensedto a customer/patient. This prevents the pharmacy from having topurchase and then resell a particular medication that it stocks.Instead, a manufacturer may supply pharmacies with high cost medicationsto dispense without the pharmacy incurring the financial burden ofpre-paying for the supply of medication before it is ordered ordispensed to a customer/patient. The sale of individual prescriptionorders from that supply of medication triggers the transfer of ownershipof that prescription order's medication to the customer and payment ofthat medication of the manufacturer or third party owner of themedication.

In cases where a customer has insurance 300 to pay for a particularmedication, the system can monitor the status of the insurancetransaction between the pharmacy and patent, and temporarily transferownership of a particular medication to the insurer. This is usuallyperformed when an insurer as paid for a medication on behalf of acustomer, but the customer has not yet fulfilled any obligations underthe insurance agreement such as pay a co-pay to the pharmacy or thelike. In such case, the owner of that particular medication would betransferred from the manufacturer or third party owner to the insurancecompany until the contractual obligations of the customer have beensatisfied and the medication is dispensed to the customer. The insurerand pharmacy can establish a protocol for returning ownership back tothe manufacturer or third party owner should the customer fail to pickup the prescription order within a predetermined period. Thereby,allowing ownership of the prescription order to transfer back to themanufacturer or third-party owner without it ever being owned by thepharmacy.

The foregoing description of embodiments has been provided for purposesof illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive orto limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particularembodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, butwhere applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selectedembodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same mayalso be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the disclosure and all such modification are intended tobe included within the scope of the disclosure.

Additional Possible Security Features

Referring to FIG. 7, it can be appreciated that the information storedin and collected by computer system 22 in communication with the tags 50installed on the supply containers 33, individual filled prescriptionorders 14 and the workers 150 within the pharmacy can be used to providea wide variety of security features. For example, it can be used toensure the proper dispensing of medications, minimize required storagespace, quickly identify status changed medications within the system,and identify fraudulent, excessive or otherwise improper dispensing ofmedications. Examples of these types of security measures are providedbelow.

Fraud Module

The computer system 22 can be equipped with a fraud module 302, whichmay be software provided in the system, that evaluates the collected UDIdata associated with filling a prescription order 14 and alerts one ormore key employees with an alerting system if a predetermineddiscrepancy is detected. For example, because the collected dataincludes and stores the identity of each worker 51, 352, 354 who has hadaccess to a particular supply container 33 of a medication, it canmonitor how much of a particular medication is being dispensed by eachworker within the pharmacy. If a particular worker dispenses anunusually large amount of a particular medication, the fraud module 302can activate the alerting system 308 to alert the management or otherkey employees of the discrepancy.

If desired, the system can “lock out” that employee from gaining futureaccess to that supply of medication or even all medications until thediscrepancy is cleared by the key employee or management.

The predetermined criteria for the fraud module to activate the alertingsystem can be preset amounts of a particular medication dispensed withina certain amount of time by one worker or by all workers within thepharmacy. The preset amounts can be manually entered by the key employeeor management through an input device 304 in communication with thesystem.

In addition and/or alternatively, the system 22 can monitor thedispensing rates of medications over a predetermined timeframe toestablish historical consumption data and activate the alerting system308 when the dispensing of a particular medication exceeds thishistorical data by a predetermined amount. For example, if the systemdetermines that the pharmacy usually dispenses 100 units of a particularmedication per day, it can activate the alerting system if it detectsthat 125 or more units have been dispensed in a day. This tracking canbe covert, in that the pharmacy workers dispensing the medications donot know they are being monitored for this activity, or overt, where theworkers know this tracking exists thereby deterring them from engagingin these types of improper dispensing activities.

The activating of this system doesn't necessarily mean a medication hasbeen improperly dispensed or a particular worker has committed fraud.The system just alerts management of this discrepancy in real-time toallow management the opportunity to investigate the issue and correct itor override the alert as needed.

Medication Status Change Detection

A status change module 310 in communication with the computer system mayalso be provided. On occasion, the dispensing status of a medication maychange. For example, a particular supply of medication from themanufacturer may be found contaminated or otherwise unsuitable fordispensing. In such case, the manufacturer will issue a recall notice topharmacies. That notice will typically be limited to a medications witha specific UDI lot number or the like.

Because the present pharmacy tracking system monitors and tracksspecific UDI information of medications all the way through to theindividual filled prescription orders, the status change module 310 canautomatically detect and identify any medications subject to a recall orthe like. For example, if a particular lot number of a particularmedication is recalled, the status change module can enter that lotnumber and medication name into the system to activate transducers 250associated with all affected medications within the system.

This includes both affected medications still within supply containers33 and those already dispensed and awaiting pick-up as filledprescription orders 14. Accordingly, should the pharmacy fail topromptly remove an affected medication, the system can alert or preventa worker from dispensing a particular affected medication. Also, the UDIexpiration of the supply of medication can be automatically monitored bythe system. If a medication becomes expired while stored in the system,the system can automatically identify that supply of medication forremoval from the system and prevent its dispensing to customers orpatients.

The status change module 310 can receive notice of medications subjectto a status change from a variety of sources. A worker 51 can manuallyenter medication and lot numbers into the system through theinput/output device 304 in communication with the system. Alternativelyor in addition, the status change module can be in continuouscommunication with an auxiliary source such as a national medicationrecall database or databases provided by the medication manufacturersthereby providing real-time notice and response to quickly preventdispensing of affected medications.

In addition, the alerting system 308 can include customer or patientcontact information such as their phone numbers, email addresses and/ortheir mailing addresses. In cases where the computer system 22 detectsthat an affected medication has already been dispensed to a customer orpatient, the alerting system can be activated to notify that customer orpatient as soon as possible by common means such as sending an email,text message or causing a pharmacy worker to call the customer orpatient with this information.

Dual Use Storage Area

In order to maximize available storage space, the storage area 55 may bea storage compartment or cabinet 57 that is adapted to hold both supplycontainers 33 and filled prescription orders 14 within it, but withoutcompromising security or providing unauthorized access of eitherproduct. As best shown in FIG. 7, the cabinet 57 can have limited accessand a security system that limits that access. For example, the storagearea in the compartment can be inside a lockable drawer 202. A pluralityof independently operably lockable drawers may be provided in the sameframe. The lock for that drawer is in communication with the computersystem 22, and opened by the computer system only when it detects andverifies the identity of a particular worker who is seeking access to asupply container or filled prescription order received therein.

The compartment includes one or more tag readers 52 that automaticallydetect the presence of tags 50 on both supply containers 33 and filledprescription orders 14 within the system. It can activate transducers250 on both the exterior of the cabinet drawer and on the shelf adjacentto the supply container 33 or filled prescription order 14. Therebyalerting a particular worker 354 to the exact location where the desiredsupply container 33 or filled prescription order 14 is located.

Moreover, the system 22 can detect the removal of a supply container orfilled prescription order from the compartment and compare the removeditem against the desired item being sought by the worker 354. Should aworker inadvertently select the wrong item from the cabinet, thealerting system 308 will alert the worker 354 and management 352 of thediscrepancy. Accordingly, pharmacy workers filling prescription ordersfrom supply containers 333 and those dispensing filled prescriptionorders 14 to customers and patients may use the same storage compartment57 while maintaining control of items received therein.

Preferably, the identity of each worker 51, 354 accessing thecompartment is determined from a tag 50 worn or held by the worker. Thattag is preferably an RFID tag, but alternative machine readable tagscould be used including bar codes or the like. Alternative forms ofidentification of the worker can be used too. For example, keypad entryand/or biometric data such as fingerprint detectors and/or retinal eyescanners and the like could be used.

It can be appreciated that the preferred system 22 monitors and tracksthe real-time location of supply containers and filled prescriptionorders by tag readers detecting the physical location of these items atpredetermined locations within the pharmacy. Accordingly, the computersystem updates its database with this information in response to theworker's choice as to where to put a particular item rather than thesystem first telling a worker where to put an item and assuming thatworker has actually complied with that instruction. This allows supplycontainers 33 and filled prescription orders 14 to be placed anywherewithin the pharmacy and in the storage compartment and still be easilylocated as needed.

Receive Module

This real-time updating of the compiled database of UDI, worker accessidentification, physical location of the item, customer identificationand the like can be used to provide a wide variety of other benefits.For example, a real-time manifest of current medications with thepharmacy can be provided. A receive module 306 may be provided to thesystem 22 that allows a supply shipment received by the pharmacy to beinstantly compared to a manifest to determine if any discrepanciesexist. In one embodiment, the contents of a supply shipment may includenumerous supply containers of different medications. At the pharmacy,each supply container within the shipment may be assigned an individualtag and the UDI information, including quantity, associated with themedication contained in the respective supply container is associatedwith the tag 50. The receive module 306 can compare the originalmanifest of the supply shipment with the individual tags associated witheach individual supply container and note any discrepancies between themanifest and the tagged individual supply containers. This minimizesrisk of items received within a bulk supply shipment from inadvertentlyor intentionally failing to be entered into the system by a worker uponreceipt at the pharmacy. If the received quantity matches the manifestquantity for that freight order then the system can automatically“increment” the real-time inventory of the system.

Real-Time Inventory Module

Similarly, a real-time inventory module 312 may be provided that usesthe collected data and tracking of the system allow for the system 22 toprovide a real-time inventory of available supply containers and theirmedications stored therein. The inventory module 312 may include aninput-output device 304 that allows pharmacy workers to requestinventory information, and/or predetermined minimums may be entered intothe system to alert the pharmacy workers should a particular medicationfall below a predetermined minimum amount. If desired, the system can beprovided to automatically re-order supplies that fall below thesepredetermined limits. Alternatively or in addition, a real-time andaccurate report can be generated and logged to comply with physicalcount requirements of national, state and/or local authorities and laws.

Perpetual Log/Blind Back Count

The collected data and tracking system may also be used to create andmaintain a perpetual data log of key transactions and processes. Forexample, in one embodiment when a pharmacy worker may decide to fill aprescription order, he or she can scan a prescription barcode on thelabel attached to the prescription order. The computer system knows theUDI's, such as National Drug Code (NDC), and the quantity of the desiredmedication to be filled with that prescription order.

The computer system 22 can compare the prescription order's NDC to whatis available in supply containers in the cabinet, and if there is anexact match, it can direct them to one or more supply containers withthat NDC and to enough quantity as more than one supply container may beneeded. Preferably, the system would direct the worker to the oldestmatching NDC first plus any returned to stock product with matchingUDI's.

In one embodiment, the system 22 can alert the worker 354 by activatingtransducers 250 such as lights positioned on the exterior and interiorportions of the cabinet adjacent to the desired supply container(s). Thelights on the cabinet drawer lights up where the desired supplycontainers are located. When the worker identifies themselves to thecomputer system at the identified drawer, the lock will unlock and theknown user can access/open the drawer. Then, the cell or cells lights upwith the desired supply containers. This way the system canelectronically verify that the correct UDI is picked. The system logsaccuracy and accountability. Once the worker retrieves the basket withthe supply container and closes the drawer the supply container is“checked out” to that worker.

Since the system knows what prescription order this transaction was for,and the system also knows the quantity of the medication to the removedfrom the supply container to fill that prescription order, the systemautomatically, decrements and stores in memory that number fromcollected data of the supply container used to the fill the prescriptionorder. Accordingly, the system uses this information to maintain acurrent log of the quantity of medication remaining in the supplycontainer used to fill the prescription order.

If desired, the system 22 can require the worker 51 to manually countthe remaining medication in the supply container used to fill theprescription order and manually enter that quantity into the systemthough a user interface. If the quantity manually entered by the workermatches the system's self-maintained current log of quantity ofmedication remaining in that supply container then the system willauthorize that worker to return that supply container to the cabinet.This process is referred to as a “blind back count.” Upon the systemauthorizing the return of the supply container, the system can unlockthe cabinet upon determining the identity of the worker seeking entryand remove the “check-out” of that supply container to the worker, andverify that the supply container has indeed been returned to thecabinet.

If the system 22 determines there is a discrepancy, the worker must havea pharmacist or other authorized management personnel with higherauthority adjust the inventory in the system so that the manual countmatches the system's count, and the user can then put the supplycontainer back into the cabinet as previously described. The system cantherefore identify which workers are historically requiring an inventoryadjustment and thereby prevent and/or monitor for fraudulenttransactions by those workers.

In this case, the worker 51 who had the supply container “checked-out.”,the manager 352 who adjusted the inventory and any workers 354 whoaccessed (put away) the supply container 33 previously to thistransaction is logged and an exception is created that must be reviewedby the manager 352. The manager's review is also logged.

Also, since the system 22 knows there was a prescription order 14 filledwith this transaction, the system 22 can also look to see if a tag 50associated with the filled prescription order 14 is linked (coupled) tothe transaction and alert a worker 362 if the filled prescription orderis not promptly located and accounted for by the system. The filledprescription order 14 may be returned to the same cabinet as the supplycontainer 33 thereby maximizing available storage space within thepharmacy.

Also, the system can mandate that this linked prescription order bechecked by an additional worker such as a pharmacist before it goes intothe cabinet. The system does this by requiring a “double count” wherethe additional worker double counts what is in the filled prescriptionorder's vial, enters this into the system and if it matches, isauthorized to put this filled prescription order into the cabinet(s) forcustomer pick up later. Should another (non-pharmacist or user withoutprivilege) put this basket into the cabinet, the system will generate anerror and alert the pharmacy workers.

Also, if desired the system 22 can have a sense of “roles” within thepharmacy. It can be equipped to provide increasing access privileges tothe cabinet based on the roll assigned to each worker. For example, atechnician 51 may be allowed to access supply containers 33, includingstock storage containers and the like, but a clerk 354 may only be ableto access a filled prescription order 14. Because the system monitorsand tracks the identify of each worker gaining access to the cabinet,and can differentiated between supply containers 33 and filledprescription orders 14 within it, it can be provided with predeterminedrules to limit access to particular items within the system.

Preferably, to maintain the chain of custody, the system would verifythat the person doing the last count (double count) be the same personto put away into our cabinet. If not, the system can generate an errorand alert the pharmacy workers.

Also, the last worker to have touched a particular supply container,bulk shipment or filled prescription order can be determined, and theamount of time it takes a particular pharmacy worker to perform aparticular task can be determined. The data contained in this databasecan be stored indefinitely for future reference and analysis as needed,thereby improving accountability.

One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that numerous variationsand modifications may be made to the configurations described above. Forexample, not all of the security features noted herein need be includedin a commercial embodiment. Such modifications and additionalembodiments can be made without departing from the scope of the presentinvention, as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A pharmacy prescription order filling system comprising: astorage compartment comprising a plurality of respective storage areasconfigured to securely store a plurality of stock supply containers anda plurality of prescription order containers, each respective storagearea being associated with a respective transducer for electronicallyidentifying the respective storage area; a stock supply containerreceived within a pharmacy, the stock supply container containing astock supply of medication, the stock supply container having a firstmachine readable tag operably secured thereto; an individualprescription order container having a second machine readable tagoperably secured thereto; a tag reader in communication with a computersystem for detecting the presence of and distinguishing the first andsecond tags from each other; a database in communication with thecomputer system containing at least one Unique Drug Identifier (“UDI”)of the stock supply of medication contained in the stock supplycontainer, said first machine readable tag associated with the at leastone Unique Drug Identifier of the stock supply of medication containedin the supply container; the computer system configured to: detect,using the tag reader, the second machine readable tag within a proximatelocation of the first machine readable tag when a portion of the stocksupply of medication is dispensed from the stock supply container to theindividual prescription order container, and associate, responsive tothe detecting, the second machine readable tag with the at least oneunique drug identifier of the stock supply of medication in the stocksupply container such that the at least one unique drug identifier ofthe stock supply of medication is transferred to the individualprescription order container; and, responsive to a quantity of themedication in the stock supply container not satisfying a desiredquantity for the individual prescription order container, determine therespective storage area storing a second supply container having aquantity of the medication satisfying the desired quantity and activatethe transducer associated with the separate storage area to identify thelocation of the second supply container.
 2. The pharmacy prescriptionorder filling system of claim 1, further including: a workeridentification system in communication with the computer system forindividually identifying workers within the pharmacy; and a securitysystem, wherein the security system comprises a tag reader incommunication with the computer system thereby allowing the computer todetect the identity of the worker accessing one of the supply containersand filled prescription orders received within the storage compartment.3. The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 1, whereinthe storage compartment includes a cabinet, the cabinet having: a framedefining a storage area therein; an access panel having an open positionwherein the storage area is accessible to a worker and a closed positionwherein the storage area is inaccessible to a worker; at least onetransducer operably secured to the cabinet operable by the computersystem to alert a worker as to the location of one of the filledprescription orders and supply containers is located therein; and, aworker identification system in communication with the computer systemfor limiting access to the storage area to a specifically identifiedworker by selectively activating the transducer based on the identity ofthe worker.
 4. The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim1, wherein the storage compartment includes a cabinet, the cabinethaving: a frame defining a storage area therein; an access panel havingan open position wherein the storage area is accessible to a worker anda closed position wherein the storage area is inaccessible to a worker;a lock in communication with the computer system that is activated bythe computer system based on predetermined criteria; and, a workeridentification system in communication with the computer system forlimiting access to the storage area to a specifically identified workerby the computer system selectively activating the lock on the accesspanel.
 5. The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 4,wherein the worker identification system is a machine readable tagoperably secured to the worker.
 6. The pharmacy prescription orderfilling system of claim 5, wherein the machine readable tag is selectedfrom the group consisting of a Radio Frequency Identification Tag and abiometric reader.
 7. The pharmacy prescription order filling system ofclaim 4, further including: at least one transducer operably secured tothe cabinet operable by the computer system to alert a worker as to thelocation of one of the filled prescription orders and supply containersis located therein; and, the worker identification system selectivelyactivating the transducer based on the identity of the worker.
 8. Thepharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 4, further includinga plurality of access panels, each panel having a panel lock incommunication with the computer system, each panel lock independentlyactivated by the computer system based on predetermined criteria.
 9. Thepharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 8, wherein thepredetermined criteria provides that the lock to at least one of theaccess panels is unlocked only for storing an identified supplycontainer within the storage area.
 10. The pharmacy prescription orderfilling system of claim 8, wherein the predetermined criteria providesthat the lock to at least one of the access panels is unlocked only forstoring an identified prescription order within the storage area. 11.The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 2, wherein thecomputer system maintains a perpetual log of a worker's identity and thecontents of at least one of the supply container and filled prescriptionorder within the storage area for said worker.
 12. The pharmacyprescription order filling system of claim 4, wherein the computersystem maintains a perpetual log of all workers within the pharmacy whoaccessed at least one of said supply container and said filledprescription order and the UDI of the accessed at least one of saidsupply container and said filled prescription order.
 13. The pharmacyprescription order filling system of claim 11, wherein the computersystem automatically assigns possession of at least one of the supplycontainer and filled prescription order upon that worker removing the atleast one of the supply container and filled prescription order from thestorage area.
 14. The pharmacy prescription order filling system ofclaim 13, further including an input device operably secured to thecomputer system to allow a worker to manually enter the number of pillscontained within a supply container; and wherein, the computer systemrequires the worker to manually count and enter using the input devicethe number of pills within the supply container before the computersystem allows that worker to return that supply container to the storagearea, and a worker has returned the supply container to the storagearea, thereby releasing the worker's possession of the supply containerfrom the system.
 15. The pharmacy prescription order filling system ofclaim 14, wherein the computer system independently maintains anautomatic log of the quantity of pills received within the supplycontainer and automatically deducts from that log the quantity of pillsthat should have been removed based on a customer's prescription orderand activates an alerting system if the automatic log of quantity ofpills differs from the manual count entered by the worker.
 16. Thepharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 1, wherein thesecurity system is a status change module for automatically changing thestatus of medications within the system subject to a status change. 17.The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 1, wherein thesecurity system is an automatic real-time inventory module forgenerating real-time inventory reporting of medications received withinthe pharmacy.
 18. The pharmacy prescription order filling system ofclaim 1, wherein the security system is a receive module for providingreal-time discrepancy monitoring and notification of bulk suppliesentered into the system as supply containers by the computer systemautomatically comparing a manifest of the supplies with tags associatedwith one or more supply containers containing products from thatmanifest.
 19. The pharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 1,further including an alerting system in communication with the computersystem for alerting workers of the predetermined discrepancy.
 20. Thepharmacy prescription order filling system of claim 19, wherein thepredetermined discrepancy is the dispensing of more medication from asupply container than a predetermined limit.